Well this is really starting to look like number four for me. Grace is still out in Ocracoke and that looks to be about the worst place you can be. I'm heading back to the boat tomorrow and try to make a bumpy run across the Pamlico Sound on Wed to try and find a hiding spot either in Adams Creek or further up toward New Bern. There just aren't any good places to hide in Eastern NC for this one.

Well this is really starting to look like number four for me. Grace is still out in Ocracoke and that looks to be about the worst place you can be. I'm heading back to the boat tomorrow and try to make a bumpy run across the Pamlico Sound on Wed to try and find a hiding spot either in Adams Creek or further up toward New Bern. There just aren't any good places to hide in Eastern NC for this one.

Mark, either River Dunes, or come on up to Northwest Creek. Call Paul or Dawn......we have slips next to us that should be available. NWC is a hurricane hole. Or Jarrett bay to haul out. We'll be down on Thursday for final prepping.

Mark....the Hurricane Kid!....you must be a glutten for punishment. This time, get us a selfie of you holding on to the pulpit rail while spitting Mathew's eye right in the eye! You do still have that storm anchor, don't you?

Trust me I'm not liking this one. The protection in NC sucks. If I can get to the Trent River in New Bern I would be golden. Winds for my "ride" on the Pamlico will be 20mph give or take so it won't be a pleasant day on Wed. I'll be spending my birthday on Thursday alone staring at weather maps

Mark, either River Dunes, or come on up to Northwest Creek. Call Paul or Dawn......we have slips next to us that should be available. NWC is a hurricane hole. Or Jarrett bay to haul out. We'll be down on Thursday for final prepping.

I hadn't really thought about River Dunes as I hate hard objects when the wind freshens but it's so protected in there that might be a real choice. I don't even know where NWC is. I need to take a look again at the charts.

The ensemble continues to skew further west. Almost all the tracks either hit land early or just follow the coast line, just off shore, all the way up. Also, has picked 5 mph back up to 145 mph. All can change, but during the course of today, the outlook has worsened considerably.

The ensemble continues to skew further west. Almost all the tracks either hit land early or just follow the coast line, just off shore, all the way up. Also, has picked 5 mph back up to 145 mph. All can change, but during the course of today, the outlook has worsened considerably.

Very slight shift East before going through the pass between Jamaica and Haiti.
WAY too early to read anything into that, but anything moving East at this point is a bit of good news for SE US.
Next HH flight leaves in an hour or so...but looking at sat images, that's a really strong and well defined eye. Folks are calling Cat 5, waiting for HH run to confirm.

And what can you say about Haiti?...they were still screwed from the earthquake before this. I can't imagine it.

Storm surge warning in the latest NWS-Miami update:
STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and large
and destructive waves could raise water levels by as much as the
following amounts above normal tide levels...

Southern Coast of Cuba east of Cabo Cruz...7 to 11 feet
South Coast of Haiti...7 to 10 feet
Northern Coast of Cuba east of Camaguey...4 to 6 feet
Jamaica...2 to 4 feet
Gulf of Gonave in Haiti...3 to 5 feet
Southern coast of the Dominican Republic...1 to 3 feet
The Bahamas...10 to 15 feet

So do you loosen your lines, I do.
I run fore and aft spring lines anyway.
I loosen the lines that are cross tied at the stern.
I use 3/4 " 3 strand nylon all the time.

Last Hurricane we had an 8 foot surge, and where I plug in the power the post was under water, so about 3 feet above the parking lot pavement. I park right next to the boat, so about a 10 foot walk to get on the boat.

"I park right next to the boat, so about a 10 foot walk to get on the boat."
or swim to the boat, as the case may be?

Hope this heads OTS before it gets that far North.

Imagine standing there and your boat is floating 8 feet higher than normal.
That is a lot of water coming in. I think this surge will be not more than a few feet for us.

Hurricane Isabel, I was at another marina in the York River near the Coleman bridge, and stood there far off up the hill watching the boat rise (seemed like)3 feet in an hour and the lines getting taught looking.

2 days afterwards, I drove out there, and there was this big rusty steel hook had grabbed the bow rail, heeling the boat over. I pried the boat off, glad I did as tides were still much higher.

Boat survived ok. Some boats in the sheds got damaged when they floated up.

Strong winds from the hurricane affected 99 counties and cities in the state,[1][2] which downed thousands of trees and left about 1.8 million without power. The storm surge impacted much of the southeastern portion of the state, peaking at around 9 feet (2.7 m) in Richmond along the James River; the surge caused significant damage to homes along riverways.

I know this sounds silly, but among the long list of preparations that we all go through, whether it be boats, homes, or RVs, one thing I added to my list was checking my insurances were all current. About 2yrs ago, my motor home had been parked for 6mos, and I called the insurance company to ask them a question about something totally unrelated, and they informed me that my policy had "lapsed".
Took a few days to straighten it out, and it had NOT lapsed, but all the same, had anything happened during that time, it would have increased the butt-ache factor significantly.

Just took boat to Fairhaven snug in behind Hurricane Barrier for early haulout. Now off to big boat and thrash on east coast awaiting Matthews arrival. Matthews gonna liven things up in New England I fear.